OPINION: Gender pay gap still unacceptably high

UNEQUAL: Across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Maitland the male-female pay gap is about 39 per cent.

Opinion article* published in the Newcastle Herald co-authored by Professor Scott Holmes, Professor of Public Policy, and Sam Bright, a research officer, from the University of Newcastle.

Under the recently introduced Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (which replaced the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999) all non-public sector employers with 100 or more employees are required to report annually on a number of gender equality indicators.

The first of these reports is due between April 1 and May 31 this year. Given the information outlined here they should make very interesting reading.

As with the previous legislation, the new act contains provisions aiming to facilitate gender equality in the workplace, including in terms of equal pay between women and men for work of equal or comparable value.

When considering discrepancies in gender and pay, it’s worth noting women have not always been entitled to equal pay for equal work.